Human resource management and early internationalization: is there a leap-frogging in international staffing?

The present study focuses on the international staffing of early internationalizers by linking the Ethnocentric, Polycentric, Regiocentric, and Geocentric (EPRG) concept with the Process Theories of Internationalization. On a dataset of 116 (N) German medium-sized companies, we test whether the determinants which allow firms to internationalize shortly after their inception, namely prior international experience, technological intensity, and networks, influence the firms' international staffing. We further elaborate whether this influence differs between early and late internationalizers. The empirical results show that prior international experience is not associated with the firms' international staffing at all, and thus, does not allow conclusions. Technological intensity increases the probability of the choice of an ethnocentric staffing policy, especially for early internationalizers. In contrast, networks enable firms, especially early internationalizers, to pursue regiocentric or geocentric staffing policies.     

Consistent strategy-proof assignment by hierarchical exchange

We characterize the family of efficient, consistent, and strategy-proof rules in house allocation problems. These rules follow an endowment inheritance and trade procedure as in Pápai’s hierarchical exchange rules (Pápai in Econometrica 68, 1403–1433, 2000) and closely resemble Ergin’s priority rules (Ergin in Econometrica 70, 2489–2497, 2002). We prove that if there are at least four objects, these are the only rules that are efficient in two-agent problems, $2$ -consistent, and strategy-proof. A corollary is that these three basic properties together imply the full requirements of efficiency, consistency, group strategy-proofness, and reallocation-proofness.     

The job stress–job performance relationship in the social service encounter

• The current study empirically examines job performance by considering perceived customer demands as a new antecedent of job stress (JS) and the mediating role of emotion‐focused coping (EFC) on the relationship of JS and physical consequences (PC), and in‐turn job performance. A mailed survey that solicited 2500 social service providers working in the United States rendered a useable random sample of 533. Regression analyses supported the hypothesized relationships. Findings suggest that emotions play an important role in the quality of the social service encounter evidenced by the mediating role of EFC in the relationship between JS and job performance. The introduction of an intervening variable (i.e., EFC) in the JS–job performance relationship extends affective event theory (AET). The findings offer management new insights into the service encounter by identifying a source of JS that creates barriers to value added benefit creation.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does mobile money use increase firms’ investment? Evidence from Enterprise Surveys in Kenya,Uganda, and Tanzania

Private investment can be an important engine of economic growth in East African countries that are plagued with adverse economic conditions, despite recent growth rates. Against this backdrop, there has been substantial penetration of mobile money, moving beyond simple person-to-person exchanges towards adoption by private firms. This study explores whether there is a relationship between firm adoption of mobile money and firm investment. Using firm-level data that are nationally representative of the private sector in three East African countries—Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda—a positive relationship is found between mobile money use and firm’s purchase of fixed assets. This relationship is attributed to reduced transaction costs, increased liquidity, and increased credit worthiness associated with the use of mobile phone financial services. The finding is largely driven by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).     

Impact of economic uncertainty in a small open economy: the case of Chile

We construct the first news-based economic uncertainty index for Chile, which allowed us to rebuild 23 years of the history of economic uncertainty in the country and quantify its impact on the economy. We find that an increase in economic uncertainty conveys a fall in GDP, investment, and employment, even after accounting for the small open economy nature of Chile. In contrast to previous studies for big and developed economies, we do not find evidence of an overshooting effect when uncertainty dissipates; therefore, increases in economic uncertainty have negative effects on the economy, even in the long-run. Our estimates suggest that these impacts range from 10% to 20% for aggregate investment, 2.5% to 5% for GDP, and 1.3% to 4.2% for employment. Extensions suggest that economic uncertainty affects both mining and non-mining investment, with the former showing a more pronounced decline. We also find that the bulk of effect of economic uncertainty on aggregate investment is via private investment, with some short-run impacts on public investment. Moreover, compared to the GDP response, aggregate consumption responds in almost the same way to an economic uncertainty shock.     

Risk management and value creation: new evidence for Brazilian non-financial companies

The practice of financial risk management with derivatives has received attention both from the academia and the market. In Brazil, there is a growing use of these instruments by companies, in line with the growth of such market in the global economy. This article aims to investigate the relationship between the financial risk management and the value creation to the shareholder for non-financial Brazilian companies. The sample was made up of 1794 firm-year observations from 2006 to 2014. Results obtained via panel data, including the GMM, point out that companies which used derivatives did not add value during the period analysed. An explanation for this result is that most of the companies use derivatives in order to manage the cash flow and not to add value.     

Measuring Market Conduct in the Brazilian Cement Industry: A Dynamic Econometric Investigation

Indirect assessments of market conduct have become widespread in the New Empirical Industrial Organization—NEIO literature. Recently, Steen and Salvanes (1999, Int J Ind Organ 17:147–177) provided a flexible dynamic econometric formulation of the approach advanced by Bresnahan (1982, Econ Lett 19:87–92) and Lau (1982, Econ Lett 10:93–99). The present paper considers a similar approach applied to regional cement markets in Brazil under more favorable data availability, and attempts to address part of the concerns that usually emerge with respect to the NEIO literature. In particular, issues pertaining to structural stability and the control for the number of competing firms are addressed. The evidence clearly indicates non-negligible and distinct market power in different regions and also distinct conduct patterns in the short and long run.      

Corporate social responsibility perception in business students as future managers: a multifactorial analysis

This paper examines undergraduate business students' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in cases in which they have not attended any specific course either dealing with CSR or providing training in ethics. A survey was conducted of 535 Spanish business students as future managers. The results show that the stakeholders' perspective deserves a huge attention for those students considering what the keys of business success are. Significant differences in perception were nevertheless identified when a multifactorial analysis was undertaken. Female students are more concerned about CSR issues. The maximization of value for shareholders is less valued by second‐ and third‐year students than by first‐year ones. The findings point to a number of important orientations for the future development of university curriculum.     

Are there political cycles hidden inside government expenditures?

This article examines the presence of political cycles inside the Portuguese governments’ aggregate expenditures by using annual data for 10 expenditure components. The results indicate that the choice of the expenditure components to be increased during election periods by Portuguese governments generally relates to more visible items such as general public services, social protection and health care.     

Level of Coherence Among Ethics Program Components and Its Impact on Ethical Intent

Journal of Business Ethics - Three ethics program components, a code of ethics, ethics training initiatives and ethics-oriented performance appraisal content, were examined for their relationship...